4 ms·

Yes, Dutch "look-the-other-way" laws related to recreational marijuana use come to my mind (guess where I live). It's no secret that neighbouring countries are

by SCHiM 12y ago

Yes, Dutch "look-the-other-way" laws related to recreational marijuana use come to my mind (guess where I live). It's no secret that neighbouring countries are not happy with the drug policy in the Netherlands. And Europe puts pressure on the government to change the laws. I don't know everything about all _these_ secret negotiations, but the feeling I get when I look at all the past attempts at these super-national laws and treaties is that I dislike and distrust them. I remember that during the world cup football in South Afrika a group of Dutch women were arrested because they showed up in a stadium dressed in the 'Bavaria jurkjes' (lousely translates to 'Bavaria dresses')[0]. Fifa had super-national laws in place, some of them regarding advertisement. It was apparently illegal for companies to advertise in the stadium during the matches except for the official sponsors. The dresses were seen as advertisement and the people wearing them were arrested. The women said they were unaware of any advertisement going on, and were just wearing their countries colours. [0] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/7830319/World-Cup-2010-Police-arrest-women-in-Dutch-orange-dresses.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/7830319/... Edit: I don't doubt that this was a marketing stunt, still, I decide what I wear and where I do it. Not some entertainment company that should only be concerned with running the sports event and not the money grubbing.

Silhouette 12y ago
I don't know about that specific instance, but often the kind of shenanigans you're talking about are a separate issue: genuine, national laws are passed by the national government, because they are insisted upon by the international professional bodies as a condition of awarding a major competition to a given host nation. As it happens, I have never understood why prospective host nations allow themselves to be bullied in this way. It is a transparent betrayal of their own populations in favour of big business. Moreover, pragmatically, a lot of these sporting events make an enjoyable spectacle for a lot of people over the few days they last for, but they rarely bring the supposed long term benefits that justify all the hoop-jumping involved in hosting them, and in plenty of cases their legacy has been serious financial and/or infrastructure problems for the host nation. So yes, it seems long past time for organisations like the IOC and FIFA to be reminded of their place or told to take a hike and host their next international event in West Nowheria. But this is a separate issue to some of the current terms being considered for international agreements, which would reportedly allow any business that didn't like a national policy to sue the national government and recover lost profits in any signatory state.

by SCHiM 12y ago

Silhouette 12y ago

I don't know about that specific instance, but often the kind of shenanigans you're talking about are a separate issue: genuine, national laws are passed by the national government, because they are insisted upon by the international professional bodies as a condition of awarding a major competition to a given host nation. As it happens, I have never understood why prospective host nations allow themselves to be bullied in this way. It is a transparent betrayal of their own populations in favour of big business. Moreover, pragmatically, a lot of these sporting events make an enjoyable spectacle for a lot of people over the few days they last for, but they rarely bring the supposed long term benefits that justify all the hoop-jumping involved in hosting them, and in plenty of cases their legacy has been serious financial and/or infrastructure problems for the host nation. So yes, it seems long past time for organisations like the IOC and FIFA to be reminded of their place or told to take a hike and host their next international event in West Nowheria. But this is a separate issue to some of the current terms being considered for international agreements, which would reportedly allow any business that didn't like a national policy to sue the national government and recover lost profits in any signatory state.